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Walter Gamble
Walter Gamble is a Marine Officer assigned to command the Landram Corps of the Fleet. Walt also secretly works on the side as a special investigator to uncover Cylon Skinjobs in the Fleet. Walt's recent history has been troubled due to his past under Admiral Castle and his role in the Mutiny, both of which resulted in demotions for the man. Since then, he has been restored to his pre-war rank and has been accepted by most back into military service. Civilian History Walt was born on Canceron the second child to a middle class family. His father owned and operated a corner market. His mother worked part time at a middle school as an administrative assistant. He grew up in the not always pleasant streets of the city. The family's existence there was fairly routine until Walt was 12. A crime wave washed over their local community, displacement of those “undesirables” after what had previously been the worst neighborhood was leveled and turned into a “refurbished community.” Unfortunately nobody in city planning realized that poor folk couldn't afford to just live in nicer houses in the same neighborhood. They got kicked out for the construction effort and then could never come back. People had to go someplace so they moved over into the Gambles' neighborhood. Walt was an athletic kid, fairly smart, and was always a bit of a fighter… a prime recruit for those gangs looking to start them young. Luckily, or perhaps not, fate conspired to prevent such an occurrence. After a few minor incidents, the Gamble family store was eventually the epicenter of a major shootout between rival gangs. Walt’s father got punched out early in the fighting, probably saving him from a bullet ridden death. The store, however, was completely trashed. Rather than try to repair the extensive damage in a dangerous neighborhood that was going to hell, the family sold off their property and moved off world to Caprica in the hopes that their new home would provide a better and safer life. When Walt was 13, they started that new life in Thebes, a large city not too far from Caprica City. The transition was a bit of a culture shock. Urban life isn't too different one place from the other but Caprica was by far more refined than Canceron. The food was different, the customs were different, and even their speech was different (and here he thought that Cancerons spoke Caprican). Most notable was the involvement of government and a young teenager saw that most in the education system. A sub-standard system of learning was replaced by one of the greatest public education systems in the Colonies. Walt was thus always a bit of a step behind but he fought hard to progress and catch up to his peers. By graduation he was only slightly above average but his progress and drive had been noted not by an institution that sought academic genius but one that sought capable young people who had just such drive. Prior Service Record Caprica Military Academy - 1989-93 Walt was recruited for the Caprican Military Academy to become a future officer in the Colonial Fleet. Walt did well in there. He was far from the top of the class academically, as was expected, but he still performed to expectations. Meanwhile, Walt played for the Academy’s Collegiate Pyramid team and started three of four seasons. They had quite a team by his senior year and were consequently a top team in the league despite the reputation for the service academies to typically perform poorly. In '92 the Caprican Academy team actually won the Collegiate Championship title with Walt as team captain. It was through the Pyramid team that Walt first met Drake Wofle, a man who would become a long time rival Walt completed school and was thus commissioned as an ensign. His MOS was decided to be marine. It was a good fit for someone like him, a very athletic and hands-on type person. It also didn't require a genius to lead a platoon of men like it did to manage a Battlestar's main reactor or coordinate the landing of hundreds of aircraft in battle. It was either marine, pilot, or some POG job like quartermaster (which was not a suitable option). Battlestar Poseidon - 1993-95 Walt's first posting was fairly routine like most others of the Armistice period. He served aboard the Battlestar Poseidon as a platoon commander, first as an ensign and then as a lieutenant junior grade. Aerilon Garrison - 1995-96 A relatively short tour planetside followed. There was a little more action on Aerilon but for the most part it was supplemental work to aid local police or to provide aid after storms or other natural disasters. Battlestar Athena - 1996-99 Gamble soon found himself back aboard a Battlestar. Early in his time aboard the Athena a small but intense conflict erupted on Tauron. The marines were naturally sent in to quell the unrest and supplement local forces but things soon got out of hand. Lack of intelligence led to Walt’s company ending up on point in the conflict rather than in a reserve role as expected. The lightly armed marine force was soon surprised and set upon by a large group of rebels. The rest of the company retreated in disarray but Walt’s platoon held behind their commander. After fierce fighting which showed the determination and flexible thinking of the young officer, relief finally arrived. The mission was far from a success but Walt had still struck a hard blow against a superior enemy in an action that could have easily resulted in the complete destruction of his entire platoon. Walt was soon rewarded with a promotion to full Lieutenant and eventually slotted for Recon school due to his performance on Tauron. Picon Garrison - 1999-2000 Walt's first Recon assignment had him with a regiment based on Picon near Fleet HQ. The unit, however, was rarely in base for long. Unlike the average rank-and-file marines, the recon unit saw plenty of action even in "peace time" and was called to the forefront of all the minor skirmishes and engagements throughout Colonial Space. Battlestar Mercury - 2000-02 From Picon, Walt's small company was detached and assigned aboard the Battlestar Mercury. The Mercury was at the tip of the spear fighting many of the same battles the unit had been a part of back when stationed on Picon so they were still in the action. Being stationed aboard just one ship did limit them from many engagements but it also meant that when the Mercury's Battlestar Group engaged enemy forces that Walt's unit was called upon to fight from the very start. It was also aboard the Mercury that Walt met up with his old rival Drake Wolfe from back in the Academy. Wolfe was now a pilot in the Mercury's Air Wing. The two continued their rivalry/friendship for the few years Walt was aboard ship. Picon Fleet HQ - 2003-2004 With four years of recon under his belt, Walt was transferred back to Picon, but this time he was stationed not with his old recon unit but as part of Fleet HQ itself. He was promoted to captain and slotted as an adviser to the admiralty and general liaison for marine recon. This wasn't exactly the kind of position that Walt wanted but he saw it as a short stepping stone to higher promotion. The position allowed him to become intimate with the more classified operations of the Colonial Fleet and gave him insight on the "bigger picture" of the military. He also rubbed elbows with some of the most influential persons in the admiralty and other up and coming junior officers whether they be stationed at HQ or merely passing through. His posting here probably ended up saving his life. Hyperion History Castle and the Mutiny During the Fall Walt and many others escaped from Fleet HQ on Picon and boarded the Hephaestus which was docked and undergoing refit. Under the command of Admiral Castle, also of Fleet HQ, the Gunstar managed to escape the Cylon attack and jump away. Over the next few weeks, Walt was appointed as the Marine Commander of the ship by Castle. When Hephaestus joined Hyperion, Walt like most others was transferred to the Battlestar when Castle assumed command and transferred his flag to the larger ship. Initially Walt continued his faithful service as a marine officer aboard Hyperion (the ship already had a Marine Commander, Major Davis). As Castle's methods became more clear, Walt, as one of the more senior officers who knew the man both from his short time aboard the Hephaestus as well as at Fleet HQ before then, approached him about his concerns. Walt was rewarded for his honesty with a demotion to Lieutenant and being placed on Castle's shitlist, relegated to the brig's turnkey. At the time of the Mutiny, Walt was there in the brig. Unsure of what was occurring and not exactly Castle's number one fan, Walt locked down the brig and put all his men and any others he could find on the defensive. There was some minor skirmishing with the mutineers but for the most part their section was left alone as too heavily defended and tactically insignificant. When the mutineers gained control of most of the ship, Walt surrendered his force along with most other pockets of resistance. Aquaria Following the Mutiny, as one of the senior officers (and a marine to boot), Walt was but right in the brig he had previously been in charge of. He was paroled for the Aquaria Campaign but was released rated only as a Private First Class. He was among those stranded on the surface on Aquaria when the Hephaestus left and survived the week on the planet fighting off Cylon forces. Of note, Walt and several others with recon backgrounds such as Merrick James (a fellow paroled loyalist officer) performed numerous operations disrupting enemy operations, retrieving lost squads, gathering intelligence, and the like. Overall he and his fellow performed admirably while on parole and helped defend the toehold they had on that planet. Landrams and Caprica Following Aqauria, there was a hearing in which Walt was cleared of all charges and eventually was returned to duty at his rank of lieutenant. Shortly thereafter, Merrick James, the new Marine Commander of the ship, promoted him to his pre-war rank of captain (or perhaps more appropriately voided Castle's earlier demotion of him). Walt was assigned as the commanding officer of the Landram Corps including both the crews of the vehicles as well as as specialized platoon of marines that were assigned to the Mk IIs. The Landram Corps under Captain Gamble saw serious action on Caprica where they were fired from low orbit out of Hephaestus's launch tubes. After hard impact on the planet surface, the armored vehicles and the marine squads they carried assaulted anti-air facilities and knocked out the Cylon's planetary defenses. After successfully completing their missions, the Landrams then had to race cross-country to where the Gunstar had landed in order to extract before the Fleet left without them. Cylon Investigation In addition to being put in command of the Landram Corps, Gamble was also given a special assignment to further investigate Cylon Skinjobs within the Fleet. Walt was given wide latitude in deciding how he went about doing this and was also granted near unlimited resources to get it done. The only issue was the incredible secrecy about the very existence of these humanoid Cylons. No one could know that he had this special assignment in addition to his normal duties and thus he began to live a double life tracking down potentially leads throughout the Fleet. Personality Walt is more outspoken than your average marine, something he couldn't get away with if he were merely enlisted. He frequently gives his opinion whether it is asked for or not. When he disagrees with an order he’ll let it be known before then carrying it out. It’s not so much defiance or insubordination as it is free thought and mild contrarianism in a military society that centers around group think. In these ways, Walt acts more like a stereotypical pilot than marine. In all other respects he remains disciplined and obedient, standing at attention, doing all the salutes and “sirs”, and following his orders like a good marine. He’s the type that would fall on a grenade for his friends whether that is a metaphoric grenade or a literal one. He’s a man of action who has for too long been cooped up and kept on a leash. Walt enjoys PT, military tactics, shock and awe attacks, and military service in general (even the crowded life aboard ship). Although an officer, Walt typically dresses in BDUs complete with the full array of combat gear rather than Duty Blues. Since the Mutiny, he works to make amends for whatever role he might have had in the hardships endured by the Fleet under Castle. Category:Characters Category:Marine Category:Canceron